Dorothea of Lieven
Katharina Alexandra Dorothea Princess von Lieven , b. of Benckendorff (born December 17 . jul / 28. December 1785 greg. in Riga , Latvia ; † 27. January 1857 in Paris ) was the wife of the Russian General and later diplomat Christoph Prince of Lieven .
Hardly out of childhood, she was married to Christoph von Lieven, accompanied him to Berlin and London and was considered an influential member of the diplomatic circle. In 1828 she was appointed maid of honor of the Tsarina, and in 1834 she was given an independent position at the Russian court.
In 1837 she settled in Paris and since then has only left this city temporarily, after the outbreak of the revolution of 1848 when she moved to London , and in February 1854 after the outbreak of war between Russia and the Western powers when she moved to Brussels . She had not left Paris since 1855. Her salon in the old Hôtel Talleyrand was for a long time a neutral gathering place for European diplomacy and the political greats of France, and she corresponded with a number of politicians from European nations, including English prime ministers. She died in Paris on January 27, 1857.
Dorothea von Lieven gained historical attention because, as the wife of a Russian diplomat, she became the lover of two important European statesmen of her time, namely Prince Metternich and later the French Prime Minister Guizot .
She was the sister of Alexander von Benckendorff and Konstantin von Benckendorff .
literature
- Harold Temperley (Ed.): The Diary of Princess Lieven. With political sketches and a few letters. Berlin 1926.
- Peter Quennel (ed.): Confidential letters from Princess Lieven. Berlin 1939.
- Harford M. Hyde: Princess Lieven, the diplomatic sibyl of Europe. Berlin 1939.
- John Charmley: The Princess and the Politicians. Sex, Intrigue and Diplomacy 1812-1840. London 2005, ISBN 0-670-88964-4 .
- Judith L. Cromwell: Dorothea Lieven, a Russian Princess in London and Paris. Jefferson (NC) 2007, ISBN 978-0-7864-2651-5 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Theodor Heuss : Dorothea Lieven. In: Shadow Summoning. Figures on the margins of history . Rainer Wunderlich Verlag, Tübingen 1948.
Web links
- Genealogical manual of the Baltic knighthoods. 1930 - VII.1.4. Katharina Alexandra Dorothea
- Natalija Tanschina: Dorothea, Sister Benckendorff ( Memento from May 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Доротея, сестра Бенкендорфа) In: Rodina. Oct / 2007 (Russian)
- Judith Lissauer Cromwell: Dorothea Lieven: A Russian princess in London and Paris, 1785–1857. , Mc Farland, 2007. (English)
- Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Dorothea von Lieven. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lieven, Dorothea von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dorothea von Benckendorff (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Wife of the Russian general Christoph von Lieven |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 28, 1785 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Riga , Latvia |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 27, 1857 |
| Place of death | Paris |